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Affordable non Chinese spotting scopes

GreenMushroom

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 27, 2020
687
567
Washington
Cameraland is running good deals on these. Anyone have one? What is the difference between these and the uhd? Also curious where they are made. Have found info saying the cronus rifle scopes are made in Japan but can't find info on the spotters.
 
That's unfortunate. Guess I'll keep saving my $ for a Kowa. Are there any other affordable options out there that aren't made in china? When it comes to spotting scopes and binos I've found it difficult to find out where they are made. I'm a buy once cry once kinda guy but 3k plus for a euro spotter is hard to stomach.

To give u an idea of were my price/quality lines meet up I've got swarovski slc 10x binos, leica 2800 rangefinder, and all my rifle scopes are LOW from Japan. Have been pretty impressed with scopes coming out of the Philippines and would be open to something made there.
 

This says it is assembled in the US. Glass made "in house" so I'm assuming wherever in Europe meopta normally gets their glass. Seems like an option. Bh photo and cameraland have for cheaper. They don't seem to make a 15x45.
 
That's not true, There are many non made in China scopes that are 'Affordable'

Care to share? I've found it pretty easy to find out where rifle scopes made but for binos and spotters it seems to be a closely guarded secret. Pentax and sightron seem to have been made in Japan but I can't find out about there current models.
 

These say designed, machined, and assembled in the US. Doesn't say about the glass but Leopold hd stuff I've looked through has been good. The mk4 is a bit more expensive but has the fancy reticle. Biggest drawback for me is I want to use prone and these don't seem to be available with angled eye pieces.
 
Some of the Monarchs are, or were, but some were also made in Thailand. I know the older FieldScopes were made in Japan. I think that is part of the problem, manufacturers are constantly moving production from here to there, and it makes it difficult to keep up with what is made where.
I didn't know Vortex moved the Razor line to China, guess I won't be buying anymore of those.
 
That's what has made my search difficult. A lot of companies have switched production of binos/spotters to china in the last few years and up to date info is hard to find. Think I'm going to go with the kowa 663m. Bhphoto has the body on sale for 850 and it looks like its normally 1000. Think I'll pick that up and get everything else as I have time to do research.
 
That's what has made my search difficult. A lot of companies have switched production of binos/spotters to china in the last few years and up to date info is hard to find. Think I'm going to go with the kowa 663m. Bhphoto has the body on sale for 850 and it looks like its normally 1000. Think I'll pick that up and get everything else as I have time to do research.
As a long time supporting vendor here it would be our pleasure to assist you with a spotter